Ultimaker 3D Printers
Safety
While the Ultimakers are quite safe machines, there are a few things to be aware of when using this equipment.
The hotend or nozzle is very hot (above 200 ℃!) so do not touch it when it is on.
The heated bed gets very warm as well-- please wait for it to cool to an appropriate temperature before removing your print.
As with any machine with moving parts, there is a danger of getting your fingers jammed when the motors are moving, so do not stick your hand in the printer while it is printing.
When removing parts from the glass bed with a spatula, always orient the tool away from yourself to avoid injury.
Some methods of support removal may cause small pieces of supports to break away. Beware of flying debris and consider wearing eye protection and gloves to protect the skin and eyes.
Rules
You may not remove any prints from the printers. Only staff may remove prints.
You should never have more than 2 jobs printing or in the queue at a time.
If you have any job over 12 hours in the queue, you should not have any other jobs printing or in the queue.
Any prints over 20 hours must be approved by a staff member.
Members are not permitted to change the materials without staff permission.
You must pick up your prints within a week otherwise they will be tossed.
Any person violating these rules risks their prints being canceled or losing access to the printers.
How do I get access to these printers?
The Ultimaker 3D printers require that you have passed a quiz to use. Once you have access to the space, by filling out the agreement form, you may reference this page and the First Print Tutorial to pass the canvas quiz and try your first print. You may enroll in the canvas course here.
To access Padme and C-3PO you must pass the Advanced 3D Printing Quiz which is also available on canvas, and then consult a staff member for access. These printers will be queue only on 3DPrinterOS.
material costs
You must pay per gram for your prints. The amount of filament is calculated in the 3DPrinterOS slicer. The price depends on the filament:
Low cost filament is $0.02/gram. All static material printers have low cost filament (Luke, Leia, Yoda, Han-Solo, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan, R2-D2).
High cost filament is $0.05/gram. The printers that we change filament on will nearly always have high cost filament (Padme, C-3PO).
You are permitted to print ONE print job under 40 grams of low cost filament for free per day. Anything in addition to that, you will have to pay for.
You may send prints remotely but you will not be able to pick them up without paying.
Any person violating these rules risks their prints being canceled or losing access to the printers.
Always refer to the Material Store page for the most updated pricing.
You can find amount of material used once you slice your print. Here we can see this print is 17.74 grams of filament which would be free if it is in low cost filament and the only print of the day.
What can you print under 40 grams?
Depends on your slicing settings. If you use little to no supports, print in vase mode if possible, reduce or even change the type of infill used, or reduce the number of perimeter walls. These things can reduce the overall filament used. However, when adjusting these settings it can decrease print quality or possibly cause prints to fail.
The below examples were sliced using Cura
Vase mode print - 19 grams
Print in place box - 39 grams
How does it work?
The Ultimaker 3D printers use FFF 3D printing, or fused filament fabrication. This is an additive manufacturing (AM) process in which thermoplastic material is pushed through a heated nozzle to create objects layer by layer.
To begin 3D printing, you would start with a 3D model which you could make yourself or download from a website like thingiverse. From there you would input your 3D model file into a slicer software which slices your model up into hundreds or even thousands of layers and generates the toolpath for your nozzle to follow. You then upload your toolpath to the 3D printer which can fabricate your part in a matter of hours (or less if it's small)!
Here are some prints made with the Ultimakers in the DCI lab!
More resources
Make your first 3D print with our cloud slicer 3DPrinterOS!
Learn how to change the most common slicing settings in 3DPrinterOS to meet your needs.
Make the most of our dual extrusion printers by printing with 2 colors in one print job using 3DPrinterOS!
Learn to use a different slicing software called Cura instead of 3DPrinterOS. It must be used for printing non-PLA materials.
Materials & Applications
FDM or plastic extrusion 3D printers are a great way to prototype an idea that doesn't have to be exact in either measurement, color, or finish. It's much cheaper than other forms of fabrication and depending on the 3D model, the production time can be somewhat of a quick turn around. *Depending on lack of supports, orientation of part, infill, and layer height*
There are many more materials than just PLA available - Check C3P0 & Padme for specialty materials or ask a staff member for more information.
Applications:
Rough prototyping
Costume design
Enclosures
Props
Toys
Etc...
Not ideal for FDM printing:
Small intricate parts with high detail
Parts that are tall and thin
Parts that have thin walls - *less than 2mm*
*Exception if printing in vase mode using Cura*